A Shadow of Consolation

“Come August’s wilt, you will praise my random flower.”

And then, just like that, it’s September,

And what happened to the pretty weeds,

The random flowers of summer? Deserts

Like southern Utah, Arizona,

Keep some of their best wayside displays

Through the crescendos of fire season,

Moonflowers, Black-eyed Susans, rabbitbrush,

When most days are still hotter than hell,

So ask ubi sunts of the woods ashed.

The difference between weed and wildflower,

As between DIY slum hovel

And charming ruin, is, as always

Location, location, location,

But also what they rarely mention

At realty conventions—the timing.

A weed shows when you hoped for something

Else, something more, while a wildflower glows

Just as you got used to less. I guess.

I’ll throw in with anything that blooms

When and where it shouldn’t, but love best

What blossoms when you said it couldn’t.